Persons installing tiles on a floor are regularly challenged with the cutting of particular tiles to conform to the floor layout where the particular tile has to be installed.
The commonly accepted method used for cutting such tiles consists in taking manual measurements of the floor layout in the area where the tile is to be installed. These measurements are then transferred to a conventional tile, which is thus ready to be cut.
Of course, the method used to cut the tile varies with the type of tile used. For example, knives may be used to cut vinyl tiles while specially designed cutting assemblies are used to cut through encaustic and ceramic tiles.
The precision required to cut tiles is usually not of great importance since a quarter-round molding is usually installed over the tiles at the floor to wall joint. However, the manual measurement and the transfer of these measurements onto a tile often lead to the waste of a tile which has been improperly cut, which increases the overall cost of the floor covering.
Furthermore, the time required to take the measurements and to transfer these measurements onto the tile is usually quite long, which is another drawback of the manual measurement taking method.